Chanco closed until further notice

Yes, it's now official. As of yesterday afternoon, the powers that be decided to close down Chancellor College until the lecturers' dispute with the University of Malawi administration can be resolved. Unfortunately, the decision to close campus was made after the student protests yesterday got increasingly violent, resulting in a lot of property damage, but luckily no major injuries (at least as far as I heard/read).

Due to the students' frustration over the on-again, off-again, on-again lecturers' strike, and unfortunately a possible 'copycat' mentality after their counterparts at University of Malawi-Polytechnic in Blantyre held a similar violent protest, the students marched into town and took their frustrations out on people's homes, businesses, and at least one car. I was very disturbed to hear about this for several reasons. While I understand that the students are very frustrated about the situation, what I don't understand is why they would then go into private neighborhoods and business districts and destroy innocent people's property? I suppose a mob is a mob, university-educated and privileged or not. I just suppose I expect more from these students. To their credit, they were very patient for a month. I guess it just became to much for them in the end.

Unfortunately though, it appears they've shot themselves in the feet now, as the likelihood of the dispute being resolved before the end of the calendar year is now much further away than if they'd used their mouths and pens rather than their fists and feet. At least that's what Malawi President Mutharika said in his radio address regarding the incident this afternoon, and I tend to agree with his sentiment. The students needed to take the 'higher ground' on this, and use channels of negotiation rather than giving in to their anger and taking it out on the community in which they live.

I just hope no one in my fabulous class was involved. I took a short drive around the campus today, and it looked pretty calm and quiet. A few stones and branches were laying around, but no property damage to the college itself was evident. Could it be that students calculated their attacks off-campus on purpose, knowing they'd avoid attacking themselves on their own turf in doing so? Food for thought. Any way you look at it, it's a no-win deal at this point.

With that, I leave you to ponder. Tiwonana mawa.

Bad news 'n Good news... Bad news first!

As you may have guessed, today I stayed away from Chanco (in case you haven't figured it out, that's the abbreviated form of Chancellor College--most colleges have similar nicknames here), as the student protests have continued, unfortunately. Though some of you teachers and/or students out there may be thinking, "Oh, but this must be a nice, welcome break!", it's really not a good thing at all. This college has been plagued by such disturbances several times, from what I'm told. My director Sydney reiterated to me this morning that the academic calendar already is a full year behind due to strikes over the past few years held both by lecturers and students. So, for those of you out there who either have earned college degrees or are in the process, consider the possibility of your graduation being delayed for an entire year, not because you wanted to take a year off, but because you had no choice due to problems in the system. Ya, it sucks.

What also really bites (my other favorite slang term) is that my course was scheduled to end this week, as I'd been faithfully teaching and the students had been attending and doing their work very faithfully as well, despite all that's been going on. Now, with this latest development, we are not likely to finish this week. Perhaps we will be able to do so next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, especially since I have a trip home planned for mid-December, so I'm unable to delay my course much further. As it stands, the academic calendar will be delayed by a full month (including this lost week), meaning the classes delayed by the lecturers' strike will be in session at least until the 2nd week of December-- Good Grief! (in the words of my favorite childhood philosopher Charlie Brown).

So, those faithful Malawi'n me readers who are religious, please pray to your chosen gods that this thing will end as soon as possible, if for no other reason than for me and my fabulous LAN 150 (Language and Communications for First Year Political Science & Public Administration--ya, it's a mouthful) students, who have worked so hard to finish this required freshman course (which they love so much because of their fantastic teacher) ON TIME! Enough already! We're almost done!

OK, I feel better now. Perhaps for me that can substitute for prayer. Let's see if it works, shall we? I'll keep you posted. By the way, at left I posted a couple of lovely pictures of me with my class in the "American Corner" computer lab/resource area of the library, taken in October, as we were starting the preliminary research for the papers they're trying to finish up right now. I thought you might like to see me "in action" at work ;-) I'd set up that lab for them to use for a couple of class sessions during this project in an effort to help them find reliable resources on the internet (which can be a challenge for anyone out there who has tried-- NO, Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source!), as well as to give them some time in the lab free-of-charge, since they have to pay to use the computers here. They seemed very appreciative of this time, and incredibly, I didn't catch anyone chatting online, checking e-mail, or visiting 'questionable' sites, if you know what I mean. Mostly, they were very engaged and on-task. What a great class! (Ok, I'm gushing, but it's true...).

In other news, I had promised to also tell you about the "Village to Village" orphanage project I'm working on now. I visited Alfred (see previous post/pictures) on-site this past Saturday to finalize the plans we'd discussed the previous Saturday for building an English/Chichewa reading room/library for the orphanage. This project is funded by the ELF (English Language Fellow) program, and the idea is actually 'borrowed' from another kind ELF (sounds funny, eh?) in South Africa (don't worry, she let me borrow it). When I visited the orphanage back in September, I really wanted to do something to help out those kids, and Alfred, who seems to be very committed, hard-working, and is truly making a difference in the community with the orphanage programs and facilities. When I was reminded of this in-country project money I'm supposed to spend, the orphanage was the first place that came to mind, but developing something sustainable was the tough part.

When Elizabeth, the ELF in South Africa, mentioned that she had started developing a small reading room at an orphanage in her village, I immediately knew that was the way to go. So, Alfred and I have met a couple of times, worked up a budget, and starting on Monday (yesterday), the carpenter started building the shelves.

The pictures at left give some idea of what the project is about, but I'll describe it a bit more for my 3-5 loyal readers... (oh, by the way, I just found out from my brother Briggs that I also have a following in the Yuba City, CA area--just outside of Sacramento, where he is a radio news announcer/ morning show personality and local celebrity (check it out: www.kkcy.com)... I had the honor of talking on-air during a phone interview with him and his cohort Dave before coming to Malawi, and now my blog is featured on their website, so I guess maybe my readership is up to 4-6 or so... Yahoo!!!)

OK, back to the orphanage project. Basically, what we're trying to do is build a small 'reading corner' for children between the ages of 5 and 12 years (but some early-childhood, too), similar to the type you often see in elementary classrooms in the U.S. The idea is to encourage kids to read for pleasure, and to develop a joy for reading at a young age, which as we all know also encourages greater literacy, more success in education, and greater opportunities. The reading room will be facilitated by local volunteers who will help the kids learn to read, as well as oversee the facility and materials.

Right now, we're just getting the facility together, and have decided to use the small classroom I posted a picture of back in September. We cordoned off a small area of that classroom (as shown in the pictures at left), where the carpenter will build a small wooden partition, and several wall-mounted shelves for the books. We'll also install some linoleum tile on the concrete floor inside the reading room area, and hopefully put some nice rugs there as well to make it a bit more inviting. Of course, we'll also put in some chairs and tables for the kids, and we're also hoping to have them help with the painting (mostly pictures on the walls, and maybe the partition), so they can really make the place their own.

So, that's the new, exciting project we're working on that I wanted to tell you about. It was great to see Alfred during our meeting on Saturday. He was like a kid in a candy store, as he talked about how happy he was that we were putting this project together for the kids.

I imagine that some of you out there may want to help out with this in some way. Though I'm not asking for any monetary donations, if you do want to help out, the best thing you can do is refer me to good, affordable (possibly online) sources for children's books, good titles for kids of those ages (I'm not a mother nor elementary schoolteacher, so bring it on!), or any agencies you may know of that may be willing to donate books. We do have a decent amount of money budgeted for the purchase of books, and our target is to start with about 100 (for about 50 kids housed at this orphanage, but there are other orphanages in the area that may also make use of the reading room), though we could certainly stock more if the budget will allow, or we are able to procure donated books.

For the Malawian readers out there, we're of course also interested in books written in Chichewa for children in this age group (5-12 years), as well as bilingual (Chichewa/English) books. If anyone out there can help with recommending titles and/or resources for finding these books at reasonable prices, please let me know! For the first time, I'm posting my e-mail on this site (though it is posted in my profile as well), so please contact me if you'd like to help out, at jbeilke@yahoo.com. (By the way, if you do want to donate books of your own, please let me know about that as well. There are some details we'd have to discuss, but of course personal book donations would be greatly appreciated as well.)

So, that about covers it for today. As always, Tiwonana Mawa!

Lucky to be alive...(Well... at least not bruised or battered)

Well, today turned out to be quite an interesting one for me. Though it started out rather uneventfully, it certainly did not end up that way. It started with a short stint in the office, followed by a rather routine trip to the Domasi post office to send some items to my aunt which I hope will arrive before Thankgiving (AAHH!! wish me luck on that one--for the Malawians, that's next week Thursday, Nov. 22). Ya, it has to first go to Zomba, then to Limbe, then to South Africa, then to the U.S. (most likely New York or Washington, D.C.), then to a place called Villa Rica, Georgia. Hmmm... I'm doubting it'll get there in time... Maybe we should take a poll, eh? HA! I'll never do THAT again! ;-)

So, after my trip to the post office, I went into Zomba with Deliwe, dropped her off near the market, and then went on to my office at Chancellor College, which was locked. Oh, yes. I should back up. Prior to leaving for my class, I received a phone call from Sydney, the Head of my department. He was calling to confirm a rumor I'd heard yesterday that the lecturer's strike that was called off last week was now back on, as a member of one of the ruling bodies (in this case the University of Malawi Council Chair, if I'm not mistaken) made a statement that the timeline for issuing salary raises was still open, and that they could not give a deadline. This is my very rudimentary understanding of the issue. I believe he made this statement over the weekend, so the lecturer's union decided to respond by calling the strike 'on' again, starting today. Now, for me this seemed to be 'par for the course,' since I've been teaching through the entire strike anyway, so this information didn't really phase me too much (though it should have, as I was soon to find out...).

Back to the timeline... So, I tried to enter my locked office (it was also locked on Friday, so also becoming 'par for the course...') This time, the secretary was sick with Malaria (BTW, did I mention Malaria is treated like a 'common cold' here? More on that another time), as I found out from the (not so) nice lady in the office next door. As she was calling the secretary to find out whether she'd left a key for me, I noticed two of my students waiting in the hallway to talk to me. This is a pretty normal occurrence these days, as my class is working on a big end-of-term research paper, so I often have students coming in for help. However, this time they were coming to inform me that they were planning to attend a 'general student meeting' to discuss how to react to the continued lecturer's strike, and that this meeting was set for 2:00, just 30 mins. before our class time. The students assured me the meeting would likely go much longer than 30 mins., so they'd need for me to cancel the class. I then took a look at their schedules and determined that tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. would work, since our class doesn't normally meet on Tuesdays. I asked them to spread the word, and then went to get the office key in my 'pigeon hole' (British for internal mailbox, for the bloody Yanks out there...).

Soon after arriving in my office, 4 of my other students came to ask the same question, and also took care of posting the class postponement notice I'd written up on the bulletin board outside the library, which is where such information is gathered at Chanco. A couple of those students actually needed help with their papers, so I took a look, gave them some advice, and off they went.

It was then that things got a little strange. I considered working on some materials for class the next day, but then decided I'd rather leave and take care of it later. Also, I realized that the cancellation allowed me to pick Deliwe up at the market, rather than letting her schlep onto a dreaded minibus back to Domasi.

As I headed out the door, that's when I noticed something was amiss... The place was a bit too quiet. Very few students were walking around, and faculty were non-existent. When I went out to the parking lot, my car was one of only two remaining. I had a strange feeling, but still didn't really realize what was happening. So, as I blindly pull out of the parking lot and begin to turn right down the road leading away from the college and towards the main road, I notice several large rocks had been placed in the road, blocking any possible exit. Uh oh. Student Demonstration. I'd heard about the infamous student protests at Chancellor College, but up until this point, they'd been merely myth to me. It was hard for me to see from where I was, but it appeared to be rather serious.

Luckily, there was a man walking down the road who assured me that I could not drive that way, and should take the "other road back into Zomba." I didn't actually know there WAS another road into town. Then, when I laid eyes on it (after first heading down the wrong road and turning around), I was very concerned. This was one of those "God, I wish I had a huge 4-wheel drive" kinda moments. I've had quite a few such moments since my car arrived, and though not fun, they're a common occurrence here in Malawi, where many of the roads are not fit for little Japanese cars. But, this was my trusty Toyota... the 'little car that could'.

So, I head down this very sketchy, very steep road which features a small wooden bridge over a small river. These bridges are also common here, and look rather sketchy, but so far, all have held up well for me, though I do clench my teeth, grimace, and white-knuckle it every time I have to cross one. Luckily, they are confined to the small dirt roads and only seem to cross smaller streams/ditches.

After crossing the stream, I gently meandered my way over boulders, through washed- out gullies, and around various obstacles in the road, all the while having no idea whether I was actually heading in the right direction. Luckily, this road also meandered through several villages, and there were always people around to ask when I came to a 'Y' junction, which happened several times. As usual, I heard several cries of 'Muzungu!', usually followed quickly thereafter by a "Hello! How are you?"

Eventually, some nice young schoolgirls helped to direct me on the final leg of my journey, and I offered them a ride in the car. This is a common practice here, but I'm always careful about who I'll pick up. I often give rides to my Chancellor College students as I'm heading down the road to campus, or young kids like these. There seems to be a lot of hitch-hiking around here, and people claim it's safe, but I'm still very cautious about it.

Once I got into town, made a quick market stop, and picked up Deliwe, we headed back to Zomba. On our way, we witnessed a large army truck with what looked like soldiers riding in the back, heading onto one of the back roads towards Chanco. Apparently, these were military police sent to restore order. I'd also received a call from one of my students after I arrived in Zomba, who was kindly checking to see that I was o.k. It seems my harrowing drive down the bumpy road was nothing compared to the danger I'd have faced had I made the mistake of heading down the main road from campus. She told me the demonstration had turned into a riot (by my standards), with students throwing rocks and getting violent. I know starting fires is a common occurrence at such 'demonstrations,' but she hadn't mentioned whether that was happening (yet). In any case, it looked like martial law was being put into place, which leads me to believe it had gotten pretty ugly.

I consider myself very lucky today, though Mr. Mwanza at Domasi College did assure me that the students would've left me alone, since they know "who had been teaching during the strike and who had not." Regardless, I'd never want to try my luck in the middle of an angry mob. Whew! Glad I made it to tell you all about it. I'll be sure to keep you posted. Actually, while writing this, I just received a text message from Sydney, my department head, saying that the college may close down tomorrow subject to 'approval of the council,' which I believe is the University Council. Looks like I won't be teaching tomorrow after all. Updates nightly. Stay tuned.

Hopefully mawa, I can also provide updates on the 'Village to Village' orphanage reading room project which is now officially underway. I'll try not to promise too much of an update right now, though, as I know where that gets me! Let's just say the carpenter's been paid for his materials, and should have started building shelves today. As always, stay tuned! Tiwonana Mawa!

Finally, time for LiLONGwe week... Not just Li-lONG-we, but WAY LONG!

Ok, ok... Finally, I've decided to write about my week in Lilongwe from Oct. 28-Nov. 2. I truly apologize for the late arrival of these stories. I even had one of my faithful Malawian readers write to me in Chichewa (Thanks to Deliwe for the translation, which I think she worded in a much nicer way than it was actually intended), chastising me for taking so long in writing about my week in Lilongwe. He or she even called me 'lazy' for not writing and uploading the pictures last week! Ah, that cut me to the core!! How many blogs do you know of that are actually written by full-time working professionals (not unemployed web-surfers) which actually feature updated (witty, creative, lively) posts EVERY day? I'd venture to say mine is the only one!! If you can find another, please let me know! Lazy! HA! Maybe that reader just doesn't like bugs... SORRY! ;-)

OK, so, I do have another story about the 'Village to Village' orphanage library/reading room project which is officially underway Monday morning, but I'll save that one for tomorrow, as I don't want to disappoint more readers by delaying the Lilongwe stories one more nanosecond.

I think I'm a bit worried that I built up the Lilongwe experience so much that perhaps now, a week later, it won't seem so incredibly interesting, and perhaps all of you (including the person who called me 'lazy') will be let down by the lack of thrill and intrigue of that week... perhaps I can 'beef it up' a bit... I'll do my best!

Since it has been over a week since I returned from my excursion, I'd just like to remind the 3-5 faithful readers out there that the reason I was sent was to work with a team of Domasi College of Education lecturers sent to the 'Lilongwe zone' of secondary schools and Teacher Training Colleges at which our 'traditional' (meaning resident, non-distance-learner) students are currently performing their teaching practice duties. What's interesting about the teaching practice here is that it is done over several years, rather than just at the end of the students' 4 years of study, which is usually the case in the U.S. These students are actually sent out for practice in their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of study, and each time they are observed by DCE lecturers an average of 4 times. Of course, the goal of these observations is to give feedback for student improvement, rather than just to determine whether they've 'passed' or 'failed' this practicum portion of their programs. I think it's an excellent experiential model for any good education program, and this in itself was impressive to me.

The week in itself started a bit late, as the chief coordinator, Dr. Kalande, had a church engagement that delayed the start of our trip by about 3 hours. She had visited my house on the day before (Sat. Oct. 27) to let me know, but since I wasn't home, Deliwe relayed the message, but somehow misunderstood that we were leaving at noon. Of course, I was ready to go on time (for once, as my close friends/family can attest), and then ended up waiting a good 2 hours, until I saw the deputy principal, Mr. Mwanza, driving past my house, and found out the actual departure time was changed to 3 p.m. Oh, well... I got some papers graded in the meantime.

The other big triumph for me was that I managed to pack a week's worth of clothing and toiletries into one small backpack. Again, my close family/friends will be amazed by that one... Ya, I only brought 3 skirts and 5 shirts, and no extra outfits. I also wore everything I packed. You'd have to know me well to know that was a big milestone. It was packed to the gills, but I got it all in.

The way up was relatively uneventful, so I'll skip over the details. We got in after dark, checked into the hotel, and then had dinner at a nice Indian-owned restaurant. One thing I noticed during this trip is that Malawians (well, at least my colleagues) seem to have one favorite meal to eat when on the road-- fried chicken and chips ('French Fries' for the 'Yanks' out there...). I couldn't really understand why, but a couple of my colleagues ate this same meal at least once a day every day during that week. Deliwe did explain to me this past weekend that it's something people don't generally cook at home, so I guess this could be a good reason.

So, we settled into our rooms, had a short meeting at around 8 p.m. during which we talked about the goals for the week and chose a 'programmer,' (i.e. 'scheduler')which was the poor guy who had to stay up late every night figuring out which students each lecturer should observe based on the subject being taught, the student teacher's schedule, the location of the school, among other factors. Needless to say, the chief and the programmer were up very late that first night planning the schedule. (and also up late most other nights that week...). This is an overwhelming project in terms of coordination, as you can probably imagine.

The other huge challenge for me was the fact that we started our days very early in comparison to my usual schedule here. I generally get up after 7 a.m., but in this case we were usually leaving the hotel by 6:45 a.m., and of course eating breakfast before that, so these were much earlier mornings for me.

For me, one of the biggest thrills of staying in the hotel ("The Capital City Motel") was the presence of a T.V. Though I hate to admit it, I have missed watching T.V. a bit. However, much to my dismay, there were only about 3 channels, and only one of them had anything interesting airing on any given night. This particular channel changed networks at different times of day and on different days. On Sunday night, they were airing a program on the National Geographic Channel, which is my favorite cable channel back home. I was really psyched about that. However, every other night, it aired as MTV. Now, when I was a teenager, I loved MTV. But, those were the days of The Police (Best band EVER), Duran Duran, Split Enz, U2, Cindy Lauper, The Cars, INXS, Madonna (early years), and the list goes on and on... The stuff they're playing now-- well, I just don't get it. Ya, I'm old. Now I finally understand how my mother felt when my little sis Heather and I wanted to watch that channel for hours on end... Still, it was SO MUCH COOLER and MORE FUN then! But, I digress...

The only other 'staple' program was 'Big Brother Africa.' Holy snooze button! I've never seen a more boring program in all my life. They actually show people sleeping. Sleeping! And they call this entertainment! Yes, I know... this show started in the U.S. Reality TV is another American export I can hang my head in shame about. Sorry Africa!! At least there's no McDonald's here in Malawi! Count your blessings every minute on that one...(actually, I have yet to see an American chain restaurant in this country... this is a first for me, and I've been to a few different countries, so that's saying a lot... Wow, what a relief!)

So, back to business. Each day, we visited different schools, and usually observed either 3rd year or 4th year students teaching in secondary schools or Teacher Training Colleges. For the non-Malawians, I have to explain the system here a bit. It's at least partially based on the British system, so is quite different from the system we have in the States. First of all, primary education here is from 1st to 8th grade-- it starts at "Standard One" and ends at "Standard Eight." After each level, students take big national exams to pass to the next level. After "Standard Eight," students can go on to Secondary School, but this is somewhat limited, as it is not free (though primary schools here are free). So, only the students whose parents can afford school fees can attend secondary school, which is similar to the American High Schools, with four grades, known as "Form One" to "Form Four." After Form Four, those who want to go on to college take college entrance exams, and those exams determine whether you can continue into post-secondary education. Of course, the exams are quite tough and competitive, so only the intellectual and socially elite (i.e. those with the means) generally have the privilege to continue their education past the secondary level.

In addition to traditional state-run universities (Like the University of Malawi, of which Chancellor College is a branch), there are also several Teachers' Training Colleges (TTC's). These are focused on training teachers for primary-level education certificates (mainly to address the ever-present teacher shortage here), which are earned in two years-- one year of classwork, and one year of student-teaching. Many students at Domasi College of Education train to work at these colleges, training future primary school teachers. Most of these students are trained primary school teachers themselves who go on for a diploma in order to train teachers.

OK, so there's the background. So, each day we travelled to one or two different schools, or TTC's, observed classes, filled out an evaluation form, and discussed it with the student teachers. For me, it was a great opportunity to see what the typical public school classrooms are like, and also to meet some of the traditional students at DCE, since I arrived here just after their programs ended, so didn't have a chance to meet or talk with them. What really made an impression on me was the huge challenges these teachers face, often with class sizes in the 70-80 range, very limited resources, and sometimes very worn-out facilities. Despite all this, they still manage to teach well-planned, orderly lessons, and overall the students are well-behaved and eager to learn...(I wonder how my public schoolteacher friends are reacting to this). Unfortunately, I was a little shy about taking my camera out until later in the week, as the most interesting classroom for me was the first one we visited on Monday morning (myself and Jacqueline, the Dean of Education, who was guiding me through that first day, since I was new to the process), due to the fact that the class was VERY big, and very crowded, often with 2 or 3 kids sitting at one desk.

That class also had its weaknesses, one of which being the fact that this very young, inexperienced student teacher was working on tag questions (i.e. You don't like Indian food, do you?), and made the mistake of having students demonstrate in front of the class two-by-two, choosing randomly from students who raised their hands. Each time, she worked it out so that there was one boy and one girl doing the small dialogue, and of course they each had to come up with a tag question which the other student then had to answer. During one such practice, the very brave girl asked her male counterpart, "You are very handsome, aren't you?" Of course, this was followed by roaring laughter on the part of the young, hormonal, teenage class (Form one, I believe, which is about age 13/14, if I'm not mistaken). After the roaring laughter finally died down, the cute young boy confirmed for her, quite confidently, smile beaming across his face, "Yes, I am!" (again followed by roaring laughter). I can't help following that story with a tag. Some things in life are truly universal, aren't they? Puberty, it appears, is definitely one of them. This was definitely the highlight of that lesson for all of those present.

Another thing I noted is that here, the teachers tend to take a very authoritative tone with the students. I suppose this is somewhat necessary with such big classes, but at times it seemed a bit harsh from an American point of view. In addition to that, in some ways it didn't agree with the learner-centered, interactive approach championed by DCE. This, among other factors, led to a bit of a gap between practice and theory as it was outlined on our observation logs, and I, for one, upon following the rubric, turned out to be the toughest critic/grader. I was a bit worried about this, but my colleagues assured me I was on the right track, and that the disconnect actually exists in the gradual transformation taking place currently from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered approach in secondary education. Of course, things like class size and limited materials also factor into these matters, and there is a way to go, though it was good to see that DCE is on the right track as far as educational theory is concerned. The question may be as to whether learner-centered approaches are always realistic considering the large class sizes, as well as the cultures within which these schools operate. This is something I hope and expect to learn much more about during my stay here.

So, other than the classroom visits, we did get a chance to do a bit of sightseeing, the first of which was to the Deputy Principal, Mr. Mwanza's village on Tuesday afternoon. The pictures at left tell all. We went to visit his mother and brother briefly since we were in the area. This visit was preceeded by a visit to a roadside stand to buy beef. This was a bit of a culture shock for me, as the vendors basically have a side of beef hanging from a hook (like you might see in a slaughterhouse), and you choose the part you want, after which they saw it off with a big knife, put it on a basic scale, and then throw it in a plastic bag for you. All the while, flies are crawling on the meat. Ya, enough to make even this carnivore a confirmed vegetarian. As a sidenote, I'm much less of a carnivore here in Malawi, as meat is really eaten as a treat here. I think I've had beef once since I came. I've had chicken maybe 5 or 6 times. Fish has been my major animal-based protein, and Deliwe usually cooks that about once a week. Ya, we're definitely eating way too much meat in the U.S., among other things... I'd better not 'go there' just yet. This is one of my favorite topics to discuss here... the oversized American populous... whooaaa...

So, we had an interesting, but quick visit. Of course, the beef, as you now know, is a very special treat here, so Mr. Mwanza's mother was very happy to see it. I did the Mzungu thing and took out my camera, encouraging the throngs of village kids to crowd around, fighting for a spot in every picture. As usual, it was fun, and interesting, and I was a complete oddity. The pictures at left say it all.

In addition to that, on our last afternoon in Lilongwe on Thursday, we made a quick stop at Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda's Memorial site. This was a kind gesture also made by Mr. Mwanza, who, incidentally, is one of the best 'bosses' I've ever had. I was paired with him for most of the week, and found him to be excellent company, quite enlightened, humorous, friendly, frank, and pleasant. I haven't had a supervisor like that in quite some time, and I must say it's so refreshing to be around a person in power who is actually confident, respects the people working for him, and isn't afraid to show that respect, and just 'be real.' Let's just say that as I get older, that kind of 'boss' seems to get more and more scarce. Thanks, Mr. Mwanza, for restoring my faith in the possibility that I can work for another human being without losing my mind!

In any case, for those who need a quick history lesson, Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda was what Most Malawians refer to as the "Founding Father of Malawi." He enjoys this title because he helped lead the country in its revolution against the British which was accomplished in 1964. He then pronounced himself 'life president,' and ruled the country as a dictator for 30 years, until giving up power due to internal and external pressures in 1994. His regime has been described as very autocratic, heavy-handed, and intolerant of opposition. It is said that many of his rivals, including some intellectuals who challenged his policies, were actually either exiled or fed to crocodiles. Despite these criticisms, many Malawians (including Mr. Mwanza) look to him as their true leader, and as a 'father figure.' Unfortunately, the multi-party democratic system which was established in 1994 with the election of Bakili Muluzi, also was incredibly flawed, and the country ended up much worse off in a lot of ways after his 10-year reign ended in 2004. Muluzi has been blamed for a lot of the failings of the democratic system here, and is one huge reason that people long for the days of Banda, who at least kept a semblance of order, developed agricultural systems, and improved the infrastructure of the country.

In any case, I'm not a Malawian historian, but I've been doing a bit of reading on the subject lately (much of which was due to an essay assignment my Chanco students wrote which I finished grading last week), so I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge on the subject. My main point is that though Banda is highly controversial, he is also regarded here as a great man who made some significant developments in the country. I'm sure a few of my faithful Malawian readers will set the record straight if that conclusion is incorrect... ok, bring it on! I can take it! But, if possible, can you write it in English for ALL of us to enjoy? Zikomo Kwambili! (Thanks a bunch!)

OK, so, with that, I think I'll close for the evening. It is approaching midnight, and this post is quite long. I think I've covered the main events of my week in Lilongwe, without getting into too much exhaustive detail (hmmm... that may be debatable, at best)... But, at least this time NO ONE can call me lazy in ANY language... at least not truthfully, that is! ;-)

Thanks for sticking with me through it all, and exhibiting the greatest virtue, patience, during that crazy spider-laden week!! (BTW, it's been raining a lot, so I'm bracing myself for the next ninja spider outbreak...) Tiwonana Mawa!

Not a 'real' post...Or is it?

Hey, just checking in... this is not a 'real' post, as now I'm actually doing this at a very late hour, but I'm concerned that someone might actually take me up on the free gin offer (again) for not posting yesterday or today. Yesterday (Friday, Nov. 9) the power actually went out here just as I was about to start writing, and tonight I just got started too late!

I've had a very busy day, starting with the beginnings of a small reading library project at the "Village to Village" Orphanage which I described in a much earlier post. It's a project I'm very excited about, and it's now underway... details to come tomorrow (hopefully). Deliwe and I then went to Limbe this afternoon for a small errand (buying an AC adaptor for a printer sent from the U.S., since I burned out the first one on the high-voltage input here.. Duh...), then off to Blantyre for lunch and a bit of shopping. We actually ran into a woman there... Kathleen, the Fullbright PhD candidate I believe I also mentioned in an earlier post. She just moved to Blantyre from Zomba for reasons both professional and personal, so of course we had to chat about that for awhile. By the time we got going, of course it was after dark, so we had the joy of the harrowing drive in the dark back to Zomba, where we stopped for Dinner, then on to Domasi...(though I'm finally getting used to being bullied to the edge of the road by huge trucks heading my way on very narrow roads, not to mention the continuous high-beam headlight blindness caused by drivers who turn them down at the last minute or not at all. Good times. Luckily, unlike some of my less-fortunate siblings, I have the night vision of an owl (most likely my spirit animal, but we'll touch on that another time).

Speaking of the owl, proof is in the hour (12:45 a.m.). I'm wide awake and in my office, rambling on this blog. It's the first night for awhile that my internet connection's been good, my computer's behaving, and there hasn't been a blackout...I even had a nice long 'Skype' convo. with my boyfriend, followed by my first visit to Facebook in a long while, featuring several interesting 'You Tube' videos sent to my 'Super Wall'-- had no idea all that stuff was on there-- Ya, there's a reason my name is JenX...TOO MUCH INFORMATION, runnin through my brain, too much information, drivin me insane! (Ah, in the words of my favorite band OF ALL TIME... remember who?)...

On that note, I'll sign off... hope to get 'caught up' with all the stories/pix tomorrow... Tiwonana Mawa!

***NOTE: Guess that turned out to be a 'real' post, after all... HA!

Guess I need to change topics, huh?

So, it appears that insects are not on the top of the list of things that excite my loyal readers, as evidenced by the lack of participation in my exciting ninja spider sightings poll. Only 6 respondants took the time (approx. 2 seconds) to enter their guesses. Well, 2 of you were right-- exactly 30%. The answer is... (drumroll, drumroll, drumroll), I know you're all on the edge of your seats now... FOUR! Congratulations to the 2 anonymous respondents that may someday get a paperweight in the mail featuring a big hairy spider killed especially for you by Deliwe and put in that clear stuff that hardens so you can see the beautiful dead spider in all its glory forever and ever, AMEN!

So, for those who want to claim their 'prize,' please reveal your identity in the comments section, including mailing address and/or e-mail, so I can get those preserved dead spiders out to you right away!

Something tells me my loyal readership just dwindled by 30%. Well, 4 outta 6 ain't too bad, is it?

OK, so, new topics. It's now after 10 p.m., so, this'll be short. I've been having lotsa computer connection problems lately, so gave up this afternoon and decided to come back to the office after dinner to do my internet duties. In addition to that, it's gotten REALLY HOT HERE! It appears that during this time of year in Malawi, one has basically 2 options: 1) Lots of pouring rain, followed by cooler temperatures and insect/spider infestations, or 2) drought-like conditions featuring extremely hot temperatures with relatively high levels of humidity. I'm still trying to decide which is worse... Spiders or sizzling heat? The jury's still out. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, rumor has it that we experienced an earthquake last night in Malawi! I had no idea this was possible here, but as it turns out, they're quite rare. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), this anomaly occurred in the early morning hours (around 4 a.m.) so neither Deliwe nor I experienced it, as we were still snoring happily at that hour. However, as I've mentioned before, many people here are actually up at such god-forsaken early hours, so based on their eye-witness accounts, it appears to be true! I've been trying to find news of it on the internet, but as of yet, no luck. I'd love to see some actual documentation of this occurrence, so if anyone (especially the 2 or 3 faithful readers in Malawi) can forward any via the comments section here, I'd be eternally grateful! (I might even send you one of those preserved spiders, just to show my gratitude! ;-)

Another quick note... Deliwe and I now have a family living with us... stay tuned for more details on that tomorrow...(he he, now I know how to keep you comin' back!)

Due to the late hour, and my need for sleep due to a complete energy drain from extreme heat, I'll now sign off. Don't worry, tomorrow I promise to finally tell all the stories of last week's trip to Lilongwe, complete with pictures. (that is, if all 4 of you are still interested...) Tiwonana Mawa!

Spiders in hiding (for now, that is...)

OK... I've noticed that only 5 readers have participated in the poll so far. Again, possible confirmation that I really only have about 5 faithful readers. Well, that's better than zero, so I'll count my blessings ;-) Due to the low turnout, I'll keep the poll up a bit longer, and refrain from giving the answer until the official deadline, which is 5 p.m. tonight. It's already after 5 p.m. Malawi time, so I'm guessing that's U.S. time, though I have no idea which time zone on which "Blogger" operates. So, according to my computer clock which is still set on U.S. Eastern Standard Time (11:50 a.m.), the masses of faithful 'Malawi 'n me' readers out there who'd still like to make a guess should have a little more than 5 hours to do so. Act now, or forever lose your right to vote in the fabulous exciting mutant ninja spider poll!!!

***(BTW, I just looked again after posting and the poll tells exactly how much time is left when you log in... DUH!! Sorry for that rambling, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit my previous comments...)

So, what are you waiting for? Make a guess! How many did I see? Don't you wanna know? Aren't you curious? What I can say for now is that as of last night, the spiders seem to have gone into hiding (except for that one fat black one I saw last night, but he was a mere speck compared to our other furry friends).

According to my sources here (o.k., Deliwe, since she's my source for just about everything these days), they'll all come back after it rains again. It's been quite dry so far since Sunday, so the numbers and sizes have clearly dwindled since my last post. In fact, tonight I was able to keep my office door open after dark for the first time in a long while. As I've mentioned earlier, it appears that after a big rainstorm, all kinds of creatures surface from some underground bog where they hibernate until the moisture above sets them free.

I made this glorious dicovery late last week even before the spider incidents, when I was caught in my office after dark with the door open (I'd already closed the windows), and little by little, these small insects flew in. Somehow, I didn't realize it until the office was swarming with them, so of course I had to close the door to avoid letting more in. This, of course, resulted in a catch-22 situation, as now I was trapped inside the office with all the flying insects swarming around me. Not only that, but the power cut out at around the same time. So, at that point I couldn't see anything except my computer screen, and meanwhile things were flying around my head, and into my hair, and of course this was a bit traumatic, as I tried to shut everything down, while trying to see what was going on, simultaneously flailing my arms around as I tried to fend the little buggers off. Little did I know that my experiences with insects would get much worse the following day (as we all now know from this week's posts).

On that same note, I'd also like to point out that these flying insects don't seem to live long, which of course could be a major reason for their recent absence. When I returned to my office later, all of them were lying dead on the floor. There's also a large, gold-colored flying beetle-like insect which I call the 'suicide bug,' because every time I see it, it seems to literally fly headlong into walls, and even into the floor, and then it eventually dies. I watched one of these things literally work its way under my bedroom door last night (yes, it crawled under the door), and proceed to fly around the room, smashing itself into the walls and furniture, then apparently having something that looked like an 'insect seizure' belly-up on the floor. This ritual happened a few times, until finally, silence. In the morning, I found his carcass waiting for me to collect and give back to the earth (specifically, he became fertilizer for one of my small papaya trees.)

So, this is the cycle of these bugs, apparently. It rains, they're born, they throw themselves against the walls for a day and then die. Hmmm... sounds a bit like human life at times (well, at least mine... I can't speak for all humans, though sometimes I'm inclined to do so...). Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live for just one day, eh? Though I know I wouldn't be spending it smashing into things incessently until I finally die in a seizure-like state belly-up on the floor-- at least I hope not...Hopefully I could get some travel, romance, enlightenment, good food and wine, music, and a few other pleasures in first. Food for thought.

So, with that strangely philosophical take on the life of the 'suicide bug', I'll sign off for today. Tomorrow, a new topic. I get the feeling my loyal readership isn't as "into" the bug thing as I am... Ya, last week in Lilongwe! I need to tell those stories mawa! See you then!

Arachnophobia Part Two...

Though I hate to dwell on the unpleasant, I cannot help myself. I must tell you that despite my blog-writing therapy of last night, I'm still plagued by the sight of these beasts. Those who are from the great land of Malawi will not be shocked by the statistic I'm about to reveal. However, I am 100% confident that those reading from most parts of the northern hemisphere may be shocked by it. What do I speak of? The number of mutant ninja spider sightings since my last post.

Wait! I've got a great idea! Let's do another poll, shall we? Can you guess how many Malawian mutant ninja spiders I've seen between last night's posting (around 7:30 p.m. Malawi time) and 8:30 this morning? Keep in mind that for most of those hours I was asleep... from 10:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. (Well, if having nightmares about huge hairy spiders can be counted as sleeping, that is...).

OK, this should be fun. I'll save the Lilongwe stories for tomorrow. Let's continue with the big hairy spider topic. I've even added a couple of pictures of Deliwe happily showing off her kill of one of the beasts (incidentally, she collected the corpse from her bedroom floor--it had been there for at least a couple of hours since she'd killed it earlier when she got up... I'm thinking she's having too much fun with my psychotic arachnophobia and actually left it there to show to me later!!).

By the way, she assured me that this was a "little" one. A baby. Ya, an infant. Unbelievable to most of you back home, I'm sure. Come to think of it, when I finally got the courage to take this picture, I did note that the two spiders I saw that first night were considerably larger. Deliwe also said those were "small." Not only that, but a faithful reader here in Malawi just commented that "I ain't seen nothin' yet." Great. My "honeymoon" phase with Malawi is coming to a grinding halt, I believe. I'll try to face my fears with courage, but I must say, if the number of visits by the hairy, leggy beasts continue increasing with their size, I may just have to pack my bags...

Stay tuned... if I do actually survive the storm of spiders, we'll soon move on the the Lilongwe stories, but I'd like to continue with this if I may. It's helping me cope, just getting it all out there, photo documentation and all. Tiwonana Mawa!! (With any luck)... Don't forget to participate in the poll... there might be a prize in it forya!! (I wonder if they make those paperweights with preserved dead spiders here, like the ones you see in New Mexico (though those are usually doomed scorpions)... that'd be the perfect gift! Hmmm....)

This ain’t no ‘itsy-bitsy’ spider crawlin’ up the wall…

I’m afraid my 3 or so loyal readers may be wondering what exactly happened to me this weekend… Well, my lack of loyalty to you and to the blog was partially due to an overwhelming amount of work to do over the weekend after my week in Lilongwe, as well as a couple of power failures on Saturday and Sunday, for about 3 hours and 5 hours, respectively. Only one loyal reader made a claim on the free gin offer, so I decided that this time I could oblige. So, Heather Donovan (not my sister), Congratulations! You’re the first reader to both make a claim and actually win a free bottle of gin for noticing my missed daily blog entries!! The good thing is that Heather lives in my area, so I can hand-deliver the bottle to her upon my return visit in mid-December. Merry Christmas, Heather! (Ya, Heather's a lucky name for special blog contests/prizes so far...)

So, I know I owe all of you lovely faithful readers several stories and pictures from my trip to Lilongwe, which are definitely on the way. However, this post is dedicated to something which has happened since my return from the capital. This experience has proven to be the most traumatic of my existence so far in Malawi. No. Let me re-phrase that. The most traumatic of my LIFE. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you. As you may have already deduced from the title, it involves an 8-legged creature affectionately known by most humans as a spider. However, what I saw last night was not a spider. It was a beast. It could have a battle with that monster spider in ‘Lord of the Rings’ and actually win. This was something from another world. And no, I was too busy jumping around screaming to get a picture of it, though I did have a camera around, both times I saw one of these creatures. Oh, ya. Not just once, but twice.

Let me tell this story from the beginning. The time: Yesterday (Sunday) evening, around 8 p.m. The place: Sister Anastasia’s house. The occasion: Her adopted daughter Agnes’ belated birthday party. The setting: The living room, after a lovely meal followed by banana bread cooked in a traditional Malawian oven (i.e. buried in the ground—-sidenote… I need to learn how to do this…).

Back to the point. The scene went something like this. I was chatting with the priest from the church the Sister belongs to following dinner (sorry, his name escapes me). I honestly cannot remember exactly what we were talking about before the ‘incident’ (a clear sign of trauma):

Me (upon sight of a small bug crawling across the floor): Oh, what is that crawling on the floor?

Priest: Oh, that’s just one of the small insects that come out during the rainy season. Don’t worry, they don’t bite! (meanwhile, the bug crawls under his chair)

Me: Yes, I noticed there seem to be a lot more insects, especially flying insects now that the rains came.

Priest: Yes, they usually come out this time of year (the bug then crawls out from under the chair again).

Me: Oh, there it is again! (feigning excitement).

Suddenly, at around the same time, this MONSTROUS bug comes crawling out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was a scorpion (incidentally, I had a similar experience in Mexico, and it WAS a scorpion, so flashbacks ensue…)

Me (jumping up in sheer panic): OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT???

Priest: (completely calm, as if it’s a meer ant). Oh, that’s just another bug that comes out this time of year.

Me (still jumping around like an insane kangaroo): AAAH! JESUS! (Ya, I said that in front of a priest an a nun) THAT thing is MASSIVE!

Priest: Oh, don’t worry. It won’t bite!

(Meanwhile, the huge, hairy beast begins climbing up the wall, and I’m practically climbing up the opposite wall).

Me: OH MY GOD!!! Is that a scorpion?

Sister Anastasia: No, it’s just an insect.

Me: It looks like a spider! Is it a spider?

Sister: No. (I'm still not sure why she denied the fact that it was a spider...)

Me: I gotta get outta here! (Meanwhile, the young girls Pamela and Agnes, along with Deliwe were out on the porch. They decide to come in to see what all the racket's about, as I’m frantically trying to run out of there.)

Deliwe: Jen! What’s wrong?

Me: Spider! Spider! I can’t go in there!

Deliwe: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (hysterically laughing)

Pamela: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (equally hysterical)

Agnes: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (even more hysterical)

Sister & Priest: Snicker, snicker, snicker (Trying to hide their hysteria)

At this point, Deliwe takes off her shoe, as I peek in to take a look, just before she aims it at the doomed beast. Of course, I can’t look.

Afterward, she somehow transports the spider outside away from my view. Meanwhile, everyone at the party is still having a good laugh at my distress, as I’m hysterical from fear, and they’re hysterically amused.

Me: (To all, especially the young girls) Aren’t you afraid of those things?

Pamela & Agnes: No. (HEE HEE HEE HEE!)

Sister: We are used to them. They’re part of our life here.

Amazingly, no one in the room was phased AT ALL by the presence of this huge, hairy, 8 legged mutant ninja spider. Either there’s something wrong with them, or something wrong with me. I’m betting on the latter.

Later that evening, the same scene played out again, but this time in my house, at around 11 p.m., at least an hour after Deliwe went to bed. This scene is much shorter:

I walk into my bedroom, and immediately see a big, black bug, which I determine later is a cockroach. However, it didn’t look like one at first. I’m not completely freaked out, but a bit disturbed. I manage to pick it up on a broom and flush it down the toilet. As I return from the kitchen after putting the broom away, I spot another one of those mutant ninja spiders as it comes bounding out of my bedroom.

Me: OH MY GOD!! ANOTHER ONE!!

Spider silently crawls across floor in front of me at lightning speed.

Me: OOHHH! MY! GOD! OHH! MYYY! GOOOOOD!!

I manage to work my way around the beast and go back and get the broom from the kitchen, hoping to sweep the monster out the door. As I attempt to do so, I’m literally having a major cow.

Me: OOOH, SHIT!! OOOH, F---K!!! OOH, MY F---KIN GOD!! (Ya, good thing the priest and nun weren’t around…)

Meanwhile, the spider manages to run behind the small refrigerator in the dining area, out of sight. Finally, Deliwe wakes up and comes to my rescue.

Deliwe: (looking tired and visibly --but understandably-- annoyed): Jen, what’s wrong?

Me: Spider! Spider!

Deliwe: Where? (Clearly not laughing anymore)
Me: I don’t know… It went down…(pointing toward refrigerator)…. AHH!! THERE it is!!

The massive beast was just mocking me, sitting on the wall in the dining area, as if he owned the joint (which he probably would if it weren’t for Deliwe my savior.)

Me: Can you kill it?

Deliwe: (Calmly grabbing a shoe from her bedroom) Yes.

Me: OK, I can’t look… I’ll be over here (walking down hallway towards bedroom… actually, more like jumping, hopping psychotically down the hallway…)

Deliwe’s shoe: SMACK!

I decide to stop being such a hysterical baby and come out to see the dead beast. It didn’t help. It was still a massive, hairy, leggy, nasty thing, and even worse belly up and dead. Incidentally, as she was sweeping it out the door, she did confirm to me that the beasts will bite if you accidentally touch them somehow... AAH, THE HORROR! Not only that, but she also made a comment, very calmly, by the way, to the effect of, "Oh, this is a small one. They get much bigger than this." Ya, I don't expect to survive a sighting of a bigger one... I'm bracing myself for the loony bin or sudden death.

Let’s just say I didn’t sleep very well last night, and I’m constantly checking the floors and walls for spiders. Thank God for the mosquito net. I tucked it in good and tight last night… just hope nobody gets in there with me before the dry season starts. When is that? April? I’ll NEVER MAKE IT! I’m still completely traumatized. I’m lookin for those bloody things everywhere now, like a paranoid whacko. And they don’t bother people here a bit! This is the thing that amazes me most. How can I learn to face that ugly, huge, hairy, leggy thing calmly? I’ll have to consult my Malawian friends out there in cyberspace. Any advice for a seriously psychotically arachnophobic Mzungu? Help me, please!!

With that final thought, I’ll sign off for today. Tiwonana Mawa! (If I don’t get eaten by a huge, hairy, mutant spider before then... Wish me luck! And LOTS of it!)

Just a Friday night 'quickie'

Hey, this is a true "quickie" (well, a virtual one, anyway--in and out in a flash...) I just wanted to get a little 'shout out' (as the kids are sayin these days) to all you faithful 'Malawi'n me' blog readers out there, to assure you I've arrived back in Domasi safe and sound, and full of stories to share. However, I'll save them for tomorrow, as I've gotten around to the blogging quite late this evening. I hope you all had a lovely week, and missed my ramblings so much that you could barely make it through the week (ya, admit it... you know it's true!). I know I missed writing them at least as much as 3 or 4 of you missed reading them ;-) Rest assured, I will more than make up for it tomorrow. Get ready for a looooooooooooooong one! Tiwonana mawa!

Rain, rain, don't go away!

Well, today was a rather regular day... busy, but no exciting stories to tell. I had my class this morning, and treated them to their second computer lab day in the "American Corner" set up in the library by the friendly Public Affairs Section people at the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe. Incidentally, these are also the people I report to. Because I technically work for them, I've decided to make more use of this lab with my students, which has been especially helpful for their research. You see, if they don't have access to the lab during a special class session, they have to actually pay to use the computer lab. And yes, they do pay tuition as well. So, it gets a bit expensive for them. Today was the 2nd time we've visited the lab, and they seem to enjoy it, and they actually get a lot of work done, too. Unless they're just pretending to work, but if so, they're very good actors...

I also told my class this week that I'll be away next week to help with "Teaching Practice Observations" for the student-teachers at Domasi College. I'm actually going with a group of instructors from the college who will be sent to Lilongwe, and I'll be leaving Sunday afternoon (around 1 p.m.), and staying there until Friday (or possibly Saturday). This means that I most likely will not be adding any posts next week, as I don't think I'll have regular internet access. Oh, what will I do without my daily e-mailing, IM-ing, and blogging??? It could get ugly, but I'll try not to freak out too much.

I'm actually looking forward to the experience very much, as I'll finally get an opportunity to visit actual public school classrooms and get a feel for what it's really like for teachers and students in the public schools here. I'll also have the opportunity to give feedback to teachers, and find out what some of the major educational issues are here, based on first-hand observation. Not only that, but I'll be in Lilongwe, so it'll be a nice change of scenery, staying in the city, eating at nice restaurants (hopefully) and just enjoying a little "faster pace" for awhile. I think I will actually miss the quiet nights in Domasi (except for the dog barking parties at night followed by the rooster crowing parties in the morning), but it feels like a good time to break away from the place and have a new experience.

Luckily, the timing of the research project my students at Chanco are working on ended up fitting perfectly into this schedule, as they're at the point where they need to gather information and organize their notes, so they should have plenty of work to do next week. My only worry is that the lecturers' strike will continue indefinitely, possible resulting in the students being sent home (which is one of the current rumors floating around campus). If this happens, they will not be able to finish out their semester, even with my class, despite the fact that we've continued to meet faithfully despite the strike. It also means they'll have to come back in January and finish their papers then. That would be horrible for all involved, so I really hope that doesn't happen. They've really been working hard, and I'm sure they're hoping to get this one required first-year course (Have I mentioned that it's a required first-year writing/study skills course?--ya, everyone's favorite ;-) out of the way, at least. I'm pulling for them, for what it's worth.

I also made the bold (and perhaps unwise) move of giving them my cell phone number in case they had dire questions that couldn't wait while I'm gone. Hopefully they won't take that liberty too often, though the high cell phone rates here should prevent too much of that (or so I hope). I really like my students, but the teachers out there know what a crazy and bold move it is to give out your personal number to them! ;-) Of course, I told them I'd miss them, and they told me the same. I was telling the truth. I wonder if they were, too... hmmm....

OK, finally to the subject of my blog title today. It seems as if the rainy season has truly begun here. Last night, it rained continuously (and very heavily) almost all night. Then, this afternoon, it did something I'm not sure I've ever actually seen before. It actually poured buckets of cats and dogs while the sun was still shining. It was incredible. Even though I've experienced rain in the midst of sunshine while living out west in New Mexico and Colorado in the U.S., this was different. This was POURING rain. And, it went on for at least an hour this afternoon. It was really quite a sight. Now, the weather is much cooler, fresher, and the mountains are incredibly beautiful. I'm hoping to take a short trip up Zomba mountain tomorrow afternoon to enjoy the fresh air. Prior to that, I hope to get my last posting in before my week away in Lilongwe.

So, for now, I'll write as if I may not make it back to the office tomorrow, thus I won't have to make good on the FREE GIN offer (though none of my faithful readers have tried to collect on it yet, so I guess you're not interested in gin... OK, that's cool, no problem...). If I don't make it back online tomorrow, I should be online next Saturday, Nov. 3. Tiwonana! NOTE TO "SLACKERS" (i.e. unfaithful readers who somehow have more important things to do that read this blog everyday--though what could possibly be more important??? I can't imagine...) This next week should finally give you time to catch up! Don't miss me too much, or at least not as much as I know my students will, OK? I'll be saving up lotsa stories and pics for all of you, so brace yourselves!

Stopped by COPS!

Ya, it's true. They finally got me. I've been runnin from them for years, and this time, they won. When looking at my travel/living overseas record, not many people realize there may be "another reason" I move around so much. Ya, runnin from the 'law'. Well, the 'law' finally caught up with me today on my way out of Zomba after my class at Chancellor College ('Chanco'). I was leisurely driving down the road, minding my own business (after an interesting lone trip to the market-my first!), and they asked me to pull over. Now, I've learned that in Malawi, routine traffic stops on the major highways and roads are a common thing, so of course I didn't even flinch. I just pulled over the car, greeted the nice female police officer with my usual 'Mwa Swayla Bwangee' (i.e. 'Good evening, how are you?'), and she returned the greeting in the usual polite way.

After that, the politeness stopped. She asked for my drivers' license (which of course is still from New York state, but that doesn't seem to bother the law here). She took a quick look at it, and then proceeded to ask me for my 'triangle plates.' "Triangle Plates, what are those?" I innocently asked. "You don't know what triangle plates are?" she said with a sly grin. "No, I'm sorry, I don't. Could you tell me?" She then gave a 'look' to her colleague. (I'm guessing it was an 'oh, not another clueless 'mzungu' look--ya, it's mzungu, not muzungu... I just learned the correct spelling from one of my most faithful Malawian readers, Limbika... Thanks!). After giving the 'look,' she turned to me and said, "Those are the triangle-shaped plates you put around your car when you have a break-down on the road (like 'traffic cones' in the U.S., but much smaller, and shaped like those 'slow moving vehicle' signs the Amish use on the backs of their buggies), so that people are alerted to drive around your vehicle." "Oh, yes!" I enthusiastically replied, "I've seen them on the highway. Do I need them now?" (Ya, I wasn't quite getting it yet.) "Yes. You are under violation. You must have them in your car at all times, in case you have a breakdown. It's 'the law'." (Now, I'm not sure if she really said that last part, but I like the sound of it, so I added it, American 'cop show' style...

Of course, I had a perfect defense-- complete and utter ignorance. So, of course, I used it. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I needed those plates. It's never been explained to me." "How long have you been in Malawi?" was her reply. "I came in early September, but I've only had the car for about two weeks." "I see," she said. She then proceeded to walk around to the passenger side of the vehicle (the left side... ya, we're on the left side of the road, remember?) to discuss the matter with her colleague, of course in Chichewa.

Now, at this point I'm thinking maybe they're expecting a bribe (a 'beca', as it's called in Mexico). This is when a cop stops you, usually in a developing country, cites you for some minor offense, and expects you to pay him off to let you go. I really didn't want to pay them off, and I wasn't sure whether that is a common practice here (though I'd be willing to bet that it is), so I just continued with the 'ignorant mzungu' act-- which really wasn't an act at all, as I pretty much qualify as an ignorant mzungu. So, my conscience is clear. In the end, it served me well. The policewoman let me go, saying, "make sure you buy the triangle plates right away, as the next time we'll have to take you to court." "Really?" I replied in shock. "This is really serious, huh?" "Yes," she said with a wry smile. "Where can I buy these plates?" I asked. "At any shop. Just go to a shop and ask someone, and they'll help you to find them." OK, now it was obvious to me that she really thought I was mentally challenged. But, eventually I got it. I'll be shopping for the plates tomorrow, hopefully before hitting the next 'cop stop.'

Oh, and as a sidenote, I think the favorable outcome might've been a bit of good kharma coming back my way, as I actually gave another nice lady cop a ride to the courthouse with an offender a couple of days ago. I stopped at one of the checkpoints, and instead of trying to cite me for some minor offense, she asked me for a ride. Well, I couldn't say 'no' to a cop, could I? So, I agreed, and she got into the front, while the alleged offender got into the back. Poor guy. I just helped her to take him to court, probably for not having the bloody triangle thingies in his trunk. That probably brought on some bad kharma, too. But this time, the good kharma won out. We'll see how long it lasts. As usual, I'll keep you posted. Tiwonana mawa!

Thunderstorm Extraordinaire

***Note: Some new pics of my mini safari with Deliwe have (finally) been added at left. I tried to put them in chronological order, so the newest ones are below the ones I'd already posted on Monday. Enjoy!

Ah, I feel better now. THREE comments on yesterday's post! So, I guess if I use the old 'guilt tactic,' I'll get a few responses. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the correction as well from one of my faithful Malawian readers. 'CCAP' is the church that established the boarding school and hospital where Deliwe's aunt and uncle live (the place we visited on Monday). According to my faithful reader, that stands for 'Church of Central Africa Presbyterian.' I suppose that when Deliwe said it, it sounded like 'CCB' to me. I'm still getting used to some of the nuances of the Malawian accent. Plus, I have a hearing problem, as my sisters continuously tell me. Too much loud music back in the day. And three visits to see my boys 'The Police' in concert last summer. That probably did permanent damage, but it was SO WORTH IT!

(Sorry, digressed again. Back to the present. It happens to me sometimes, as you've probably noticed. The truly faithful Malawi 'n Me readers--all 3-5+ of them--are used to it by now... ;-)

One major occurrence since my last post was a MAJOR thunderstorm last night. I was working on some materials for my class the following morning, and rain started to POUND on the roof of my house. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this before, but most of the roofs of houses and buildings here are made of metal (tin, I think), so when it rains, the sound is quite strong. I'm still trying to figure this phenomenon out, though, as my house (and most other buildings on the Domasi campus) are also covered with tiles, so I'm not sure why the sound still sounds like stones hitting metal. In any case, it sounded more like strong hail than heavy rain. This was the first major thunderstorm I've experienced since I came here, and it was very reminiscent of the extremely strong storms I grew up with in the American Midwest. My friends and family from that region know what I'm talking about... those sudden clashes of thunder in the middle of the night that literally shake the house, and make you run to your mommy (if she's still around)!! If not, you have to find someone to run to, cuz that kind of thunder is truly other-worldly, and can really freak a person out.

In my case, I ran outside to my faithful dog (Deliwe was in bed, probably asleep... nothing scares her... not even a belly-up cockroach or a big, hairy, scary RAT!!). The dog still hangs around, and was laying outside my door on the front stoop, sheltered from the rain. Come to think of it, he didn't seem too phased by the thunder, either. Often U.S. dogs run and hide during thunderstorms, but this guy ('doggy') is tough. Ya, I call him 'doggy'. It's not a tough name at all, is it? I need to find a tougher name. Any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...). He has a real name ('Trigger', but I don't think it fits him), since I kinda 'stole' him from my next door neighbor, as I think I've mentioned before, using powdered milk, which I feed him nightly (ya, that's what I drink here...just for cereal & tea-- the 'Cheeseheads' out there must be dying of shock and dismay at the mere thought of it...)

So, I'm thinking maybe this thunderstorm is a signal that the 'rainy season' may be upon us soon. I hope so. October is really hot here. It feels so strange to me now, as where I come from it should be getting colder now. But here, it's getting hotter. Southern hemisphere. Everything's backwards and upside down here. Even the moon. Did I tell you about that? When the moon is a 'crescent' shape, it's upside down. It faces in the direction of a smiling face, but without the eyes and nose. Just the smiling mouth. Hmmm... I'll have to try to take a picture sometime, as that description will not cut it. It's pretty cool. I'm not an astronomer (far from it), but I think the constellations are also in an upside down and in backwards order here (compared to the northern hemisphere, that is... DISCLAIMER: I'm not passing judgement!). Anybody know something about that? Leave a comment! Enlighten me, and all 5 or so of my faithful readers, please! There's so much I still don't understand! Help! Help! Help!

OK, with that, I'd better sign off. Pray for more rain! And for me to grow a brain! (Hey, a rhyming couplet! I did it again! A miracle!) Tiwonana mawa!

DISCLAIMER #2: Really, I am not drunk or under the influence of any illicit chemicals while writing this blog, contrary to what my ramblings may lead an unsuspecting reader to believe. This is just me, in the early evening, in Malawi. Ya, Malawi 'n Me. Those who know me well will not find this hard to believe, methinks. OK, BYE!

Need for Divine Intervention

Wow! It's been a few days since I've received any comments on my blog. Are my 3-5 faithful U.S. readers (plus 1,000 or so Malawian readers) still out there? Am I just writing to myself? Or maybe the length of my postings is just too daunting for the average blog-reader. Plus, nothing too controversial as of late. Is it getting too boring now? Hmmm...

Actually, I don't have too much to say today, so this should allow all of the faithful out there to catch up with all my other ramblings. I do still need to add a few more of my pix from the weekend at left, but I'll do that tomorrow, as it's time to go home already (almost 7:00-- dinnertime!)

Today I had my first experience of driving 25 minutes to Zomba for a meeting at Chancellor College, and then there was no meeting. The reason was that one of the lecturers is currently on strike, and the meeting could not go on without her. I think my director felt a bit embarrassed that I'd made the trip, as Tuesday is usually an off-day for me at Chancellor College, so he treated me to a drink (don't worry, just an orange soda) in the "Common Room." For the Americans out there, this is sort of like the student union (or 'Campus Center') on campus, but for instructors and staff only. Ya, a true utopia (or dystopia, depending on how you look at it). This one is quite special, as it also serves alcohol, though Sydney (my director) assured me that instructors are "not allowed to go to the classroom drunk." He did, however, clarify that one beer was o.k. before teaching. Hmmm... Food for thought.

OK, I just typed an entire paragraph, and then somehow erased the whole thing while inserting a period (don't ask me how), so I'll try to write it again in the same grain, as it turned out nicely. I wonder if I can do it again. OK. Here goes. So, Sydney and I did not drink alcohol, partly because he's a 7th-Day Adventist, which is a religion that follows both the old and new testaments almost equally. I've only met one Seventh Day Adventist in the past, but I found him too strange to talk religion with, so I decided to ask Sydney more about his faith. He explained a lot of it to me, and really made a lot of sense. I've gotten into several discussions of religion while I've been here, and what I really appreciate about the faithful here is that they don't preach or try to convert you, or pass judgement on you if you are not religious. They simply explain where they're coming from and why, and leave it at that. They also acknowledge and understand questioning one's faith, as well as validating a feeling of frustration with organized religion. They just simply seem to 'get it,' regardless of their own beliefs. Again, I appreciate that.

The other thing Sydney explained to me was the reasons behind the Jewish Kosher diet, which the Adventists also observe. It actually made a lot of sense to me... for the first time, despite having spoken with both Jews and Muslims on the subject, someone was able to explain that with clarity. I'm thinking of going Kosher myself. Well, I am Kosher here, actually--no pork, no shellfish. The only thing I really miss is shellfish. Not sure whether I could give that up forever. I'll keep you posted.

One last thing I learned about Sydney is that he belongs to a gospel band, and they recently recorded their first CD, which he gave to me (actually he gave me the cassette, hoping I'll eventually buy a CD). As I mentioned last week, I do appreciate all Malawian music, even the religious tunes I've heard in church, so I'm looking forward to listening to it. Plus, it's in Chichewa, so I won't be too put off by the religious lyrics. It turns out that Sydney's quite the Renaissance man, a self-taught guitarist with his own recording studio. He even offered to give me voice lessons to help me actually bring my singing talent up to the same level as my love for singing (my friends/family, as well as some radio listeners in northern California, thanks to my brother working in radio there--never mind the details of that-- can attest to my serious lack of singing prowess). But oh, how I do love to sing! Hmmm... that may be a problem he'd definitely need divine intervention to solve. Again, I'll keep you posted. Tiwonana mawa!

A family trip in my 'trusty Toyota'

This post will definitely be on the shorter side, as I just spent a couple of hours uploading pix from my weekend safari with Deliwe, and then my computer started acting strangely, so I wasn't able to finish. I did get most of them up, though, but there are a couple more I'd like to add tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Today was relatively uneventful, except for two things: 1) I had the opportunity to take Deliwe and her family up to a small village to see her aunt who is very sick. She just had surgery for stomach cancer, and is very weak, so Deliwe, her mother, and her aunt wanted to go see her. I was glad to be able to help them out, as the journey would've been very long, had it not been for me. The village they needed to visit was a good 3 miles or so from the main road, and would've required quite a climb up a rough, dirt road. Instead, they got a nice (though a bit bumpy) ride in the my trusty Toyota. Wow, that car's been through a lot already, but it still keeps running smoothly(knock on wood-- just did... luckily my desk is made of wood).

I managed to get them up to the village before driving to my class in Zomba just before lunchtime, and then picked them up afterwards, not long before dusk, just barely beating the sunset. When I arrived to pick them up, I was impressed to see how many family members were there. All of the aunts and uncles on Deliwe's mother's side were there, taking time to visit their brother's wife (which is how Deliwe refers to her, leading me to believe there's a word for this in Chichewa... they don't just say 'aunt' as we do in English) in her time of need. I'm not sure whether they were all concerned that she may not make it, and just wanted to be sure to spend some time with her just in case, or whether they wanted to just cheer her up and try to make her feel better. Perhaps it was a bit of both. I was just glad I could do my small part to help bring the family together at this difficult time, and of course I offered to help with future transportation to the hospital if necessary.

Luckily, Deliwe's uncle has a good teaching job at a private primary school attached to a private hospital-- "CCB"-- I think it stands for 'Christian'-something -something, and was established by a Christian missionary group. Deliwe wasn't sure. Any of my Malawian readers out there want to help me out with that one? All comments welcome! In any case, the place was very nice, and she does have access to medical care there, but if something serious happens, she could need transportation to Zomba Hospital, which is where she had her surgery. According to Deliwe, the surgery was successful, so everyone's hoping for the best.

Whenever there's a 1), there must be a 2). In this case, it was a dreaded rat sighting. Yes, there's a RAT living in my house! I saw it scurry from my bedroom to the spare room, and yes, I screamed like a little girl! Deliwe came into the spare room, and we both looked for it. I figured it was hiding in the closet, and unfortunately I was right... I picked up my luggage that was stored in there, and there it was... big, fat, RAT! AAAHH! I hate them almost as much as cockroaches! I thought I heard something scurrying around in the ceiling a few times, and of course I remembered the droppings we found when I first moved into the house. Deliwe then told me she noticed that one of our potatoes had been moved from the shelf to the top of the woodburning stove in the kitchen. She was wondering how the potato got moved. Ya, this thing is big enough to transport a potato. Or, worse yet, maybe its friends helped it move the potato, and God knows what else. I won't be sleepin much tonight. Wish me luck with that, and Tiwonana mawa! (That is, if I don't become a giant rat victim-- stay tuned...)

Amazing African Animals Abound

It is now Sunday afternoon, and time to chronicle the story of my (and Deliwe's) first trip to a national park in Malawi. Our journey was a very good one, with only one major incident, this time involving finding accommodation. Like a good traveler, I tried to book accommodation in advance, only to realize that my lack of orientations skills (i.e. lousy sense of direction) would cause me to fail to find that accommodation. The place I'd booked was called 'Shire Camp,' located in the town of Liwonde, next to the Shire river. I had a simple map of the area in my trusty Malawi guidebook, though when we got into the town of Liwonde, it somehow wasn't as straightforward as I'd hoped. Luckily, Deliwe was kind enough to help me after I took a wrong turn (or 2, or 3) by asking random passersby for directions.

This is where it got interesting. Since this was my first real "road trip" in the car to a new place without any real directions, it was also my first experience with asking directions. Luckily, I was with someone who speaks the local language (Chichewa, for those who aren't aware), so she was able to help a lot with this communication, which was good. The bad part was that we got several different directions from several different people. One young man told us to turn right at a certain intersection, so we did. After driving down the road a bit after the turn, however, we realized we were really in the middle of nowhere, so we had to turn around. This led to asking another person, who told us to turn a different way. Once we did that, we were closer to going the correct way, but came to a fork in the road, and didn't know which side of the fork to follow. Luckily, some young girls were walking there with their mother, and all seemed certain that we needed to take the left fork. Since we'd already started down the right fork, this meant turning around, and hoping for the best.

Since it was nearing dusk, I was beginning to feel a bit desperate as I gripped the wheel and headed down another dirt road in search for our lovely camping accommodation next to the Shire River. The road gently inclined to a railroad track mounted on a sketchy-looking cement platform. I hesitated a bit before trying to scale this jagged precipice with my low-lying small Toyota sedan. As I slowed down, a group of men sitting on the railroad tracks took a look at me, pointed up the road in the direction I was heading, and said, "Shire Camp is that way..." I still don't know how they knew where we were going, only that somehow the word must've spread amongst the 20 or so people we'd stopped to ask along the way. I have a feeling Deliwe wanted to hide under a rock at that point.

After saying thanks ('Zikomo' in Chichewa), I headed over the cement platform with the tracks on it, and was welcomed on the other side with a simultaneous forward dive and loud scraping sound as the car hit the other side of the cement platform, immediately followed by a large pothole (as I later realized upon scaling the same railroad tracks on the way back the following day). Amazingly, the car survived unscathed, and would continue to survive similar road obstacles during the rest of the weekend. I will never again buy anything other than a Toyota. I'm a true believer.

So, after surviving the railroad track incident, we head straight down the road, and see a sign for the 'Shire Lodge.' Hmmm... we'd planned to stay at the 'Shire Camp,' but maybe they changed their name, so what the heck? We drove in. Now, when I saw it, I thought it might be a bit pricey, as the set-up was a bit fancier than the place I'd originally booked, complete with rows of high-end adobe-style thatched roof self-contained cabin-like rooms. Of course, after walking into the reception area, I did discover the price was a bit more than twice what I'd planned to pay, but at this point, it was getting dark, and we didn't want to chance it, so I just paid for the first night, and we stayed put. As a sidenote, almost everyone we talked to (the hotel staff, and the guide at the park) told us that the 'Shire Camp' was really not a good place to stay, and that most people just go there to socialize rather than stay the night. Since my telephone conversations were a bit stilted and unclear with the staff there, I took their word for it. However, I'd like to take a look at some point, as I didn't have a chance during this trip.

So, we went to our room, and found the facilities acceptable... it even had an air conditioner! Wow, I haven't seen one of those in a long time. Ironically, though, I think I've grown so accustomed to life without one, that I didn't really feel the need to use it. I turned it on for a couple of minutes, and then realized that the fan positioned on the wall between the two beds was good enough. I know my friends back home would be shocked, but yes, it is possible to survive without air conditioning in hot climates. Remember life back in the 70's? We did it all the time! And we're all still alive! Food for thought, especially in the age of overuse of fossil fuels and the global warming crisis... but yes, I digress...

The most interesting features of this hotel where we stayed were the fact that it was practically empty (I counted a total of maybe 6 other guests the entire time we were there), and it was right on the river, with outside seating, so a nice place to enjoy some drinks and dinner while watching for hippos and crocodiles. And yes, we saw a few hippos on Saturday night, and our waitress told us that sometimes the hippos come up onto the grounds to eat the grass and fancy plants. Unfortunately, that didn't happen during our stay, but I suppose that's just as well, as hippos are known to also bite people in half. Ya, that's not a joke. They can literally bite a person in half, and usually will do so out of anger and fear rather than hunger. The waitress also told us this. If a hippo bites a person in half, it will just leave the 2 halves of the person there for the scavengers. How this waitress actually knew this, I do not know. It sounded like she might've witnessed such an occurence, but I was too chicken to ask.

So, after enjoying a couple of beers and some chicken and rice for dinner, we headed for bed, and both of us were snoring by 9 p.m. or so. Like I've said before, things happen much earlier here in Malawi than in most other places. Both of us were exhausted and knew we had to get up early, so 9 p.m. was it. If I'd told myself a couple of months ago that I'd ever go to bed before 11 p.m., I'd never have believed myself. I still can't quite believe it.

So, the following morning after a nice big breakfast (English style-- eggs and 'chips'-- i.e. french fries-- always a strange combination to me, but I'm starting to get used to it here...), we headed out for our big safari adventure. I'd had big plans to take a "boat safari," since that's the best way to see animals at Liwonde, as the Shire (pronounced "SHI-reh", not the English 'shire') River runs through the entire park. Well, this was my plan, until I ended up paying twice the originally planned amount for accommodation. When I found out (after a small hike to the boat dock) that taking a 2-hour boat safari (in a rather rickety-looking boat) costs $20/head, I decided the car would be a better option. Deliwe enthusiastically agreed, as her fear of crocodiles (ya, her favorite animal) surfaced while looking at the boat as well. I didn't realize that crocodiles can attack boats, but the waitress confirmed that for us as well. However, she also said that the motors scare them off, and though this boat looked in need of renovation, it did have a motor on it. But, so does my car, and crocodiles can't get us in there, so we opted for the good ol' trusty, tough Toyota.

Of course, after our adventure of finding our way the night before, we felt more confident that we could make it to the park (since my first mistake that night was accidentally taking the road to the park, before remembering that we were staying in town, rather than in the park... duh...). We easily found our way there, and were greeted by a very friendly park ranger named Benson. He greeted me at the car, and then asked me to meet him at the window, where he explained the fees and the option of hiring an armed guide. Ya, they're armed, mainly as protection from out of control large animals, mainly elephants. Luckily, they don't need to use the guns often, and I think they mostly shoot them off to scare the elephants if they start to charge. I must say I'm very petrified of guns, so when we took our guide (yes, I did decide to hire one, as the price was right, and around here, it's just a good idea to have one around) to go pick up his gun from the military barracks (the park has a military training facility), I almost died when he got into the car holding the rifle. If you don't understand what I mean, try driving with someone in the back seat holding a rifle. You'll see. It takes a special kind of trust, especially on a bumpy dirt road.

So, off we went, Deliwe and I in front, guide and rifle in back, in our trusty little Toyota on our adventure to see amazing African animals. By the way, I should mention that our guide spoke very little English, so Deliwe was given the task of interpreting. After a while, she was also helping to spot animals and serving as my 'camera assistant' while I was driving. She seemed to handle all of these tasks quite well, and became the best animal spotter of all of us by the end of the day. At first, the road was relatively smooth and the animals elusive, but we did see some cool trees, as the pictures to the left can attest. My favorite is the 'Boabob' (pronounced BO-uh-bob). This is literally an upside-down tree. It looks like the roots are at the top, and it has a really, really wide trunk. I love this tree because it reminds me of something out of a storybook. It's truly other-worldly. I stopped to take pictures of several of my favorite boabobs, featured here on this site.

One of the sad sights we saw as we drove up the road was the charred remains of several fires started by animal poachers. According to our guide, the poachers start the fires to drive the animals into certain areas where they can hunt them more easily. Unfortunately, these people have done a lot of damage to several acres of the park, and have also killed a lot of animals, especially various antelope species. The good thing is at least there is not a big problem with elephant ivory poaching like in other regions of Africa. However, poachers have caused quite a negative impact on the plant and animal life here, and of course the rangers are always on the lookout for these guys, and sometimes do catch them and make arrests.

Eventually, as we continued, we saw a few guinea fowl (very pretty bird that looks like a big quail with a light-blue head and dark blue body). They ran too fast for me to get a picture, though. We also saw bushbuck, waterbuck, and some sable antelope. Then, finally, our guide asked us to stop at a certain point, walk a bit into the 'bush,' and there they were. The elephants. Wow. Amazing. The pictures tell all. We watched a nice, big group of females and their young (I think about 10 or so) walking in the lush area near the river. Eventually, they turned and walked toward us, and the guide warned me that the elephants might think I was food, as I was wearing a white shirt, and they're attracted to that color because they see it as a possible food source. Hmmm... Should I stay or should I go? Of course, the guide didn't want to use his rifle (on me, or the elephants-- well, maybe a little on me), so we headed back to the car. Of course, not before I shot off a few pictures, though.

After that excitment, we headed on down the road and had a few more sightings-- babboons, warthogs, a few more birds, until finally we reached the fancy lodge at the north end of the park-- Mvuu camp. Luckily, it was just after 12:00 noon, so a good time to stop for a bite to eat. What we didn't realize upon entering, however, was that this was a high-end lodge for rich Muzungus, mostly from South Africa, from the looks of it. As a result, the price for a buffet lunch was about 3 times the usual price of a meal here (1700 kwacha, which is about 12 bucks). That's a really expensive meal in Malawi. And I needed to feed 3 people, and I'm on a budget. After a bit of haggling, we did convince the manager to serve us some cheese and tomato sandwiches for 500 kwacha, which is the usual price of lunch in Malawi. We also had some drinks (but not cheap), but at least they refilled our water bottles for free. I love this country!

The place we ate was quite fancy; a typical African safari lodge, complete with fancy thatched roofs with open sides for viewing the river and passing wildlife. There were many well-to-do tourists there, and from the accents, they appeared to be about 90 percent white South African, and 10 percent (white and black) American. Most likely they were travelling on package deals which included the meals, room, and boat/road safaries, so maybe the lunch for them didn't appear so pricey. Or maybe it's because they were from developed countries where $12 is average for lunch. Ya, that could be it. We were confined to the lounge area, separate from the upper-class dining area. It was a bit like 'Titanic', but without all the drama of the sinking ship, freezing people in the ocean, etc. Lucky for us.

The view of the river from this place was amazing, and we could even see some hippos soaking in the river as we sipped our cokes and ate our fancy tomato and cheese sandwiches (which, actually, were two sandwiches each, so we couldn't complain). While waiting for the food, Deliwe struck up conversation with another young man from Zomba, and they played a traditional Malawian game (sorry, I forgot the name), using stones and a wooden tray. They tried to show me how to play it, and I think I got the basic idea, but I'm still not confident in my understanding of the strategy. In some ways, it's similar to 'checkers' in that one player 'steals' stones from the other player and then puts them on his side. But then, in checkers you don't use your friend's pieces on your side of the board, so no, it's really not like checkers at all. In any case, I'd like to learn how to play again sometime. I always see the drivers at Domasi College playing this game. I wonder if they'd let me join them sometime. I'll let you know how that goes when I get the courage to try it.

So, after our lunch, we took a little walk around Mvuu camp. I wanted to try to see more animals, but for some reason, our guide showed us around the camp first. He showed us the pool we couldn't swim in, the nice cabins we couldn't sleep in, and then went to visit some of his friends in the workers' quarters. It was a bit strange. He also showed us a little 'party area' for barbeques, where I ran into one of my Chancellor College students, Rafael, who actually seemed very happy to see me. He was with a the college Anglican Students' group, helping to prepare for a barbecue/party they were having that afternoon. Wow. I never imagined I'd run into someone I knew in the middle of the national park. I guess I'm becoming a 'local' more quickly than I thought!

After seeing the lovely Mvuu facilities, and feeling even more deprived that we weren't staying there, we then started off for our journey back to the front gate. It was then that we were told that our guide (sorry, I can't remember his name... Deliwe wrote it down, so I'll fill it in when I see her again) would be staying at Mvuu camp, and another guide named Jana would be coming back with us. Though we were were a bit sad to lose our old guide, Jana turned out to be a good replacement, as he not only could speak English, but he was a good animal spotter, and had a much more serious weapon (though this last point made me even more nervous. I made sure to be VERY nice to Jana during our drive back).

At the beginning of our journey back, we took a short, but somewhat treacherous road through the grass to the river to check out the water-lovin wildlife. Almost immediately, we saw a couple of crocodiles, one which was sitting on the shore with its mouth open, right next to a water bird (see picture at left), who amazingly just sat there as if to dare him to attack. We also spotted a big group of hippos, and even saw a few of them jump into the river while running away from something, but we never figured out exactly what it was. We also saw another herd of elephants across the river, which convinced me that a boat safari is a much better idea for animal viewing, as that's the only way to access the other side of the river. So, I guess I'll have to save my money for the next time.

Another interesting site on the river was this amazing breed of kingfisher. I know we have them in the states, but I don't know if they fish in the same way as these little guys. They actually hover in the air above the water, and then dive in for the fish, and quickly fly back up again. It's an amazing sight to see. I tried to get a picture of them, but they were way too fast. I'll have to try again next time. Stay tuned!

Almost immediately after getting back into the car and on the main dirt road, Jana informed us that there was a herd of elephants not too far off, so we parked the car and took another little walk. This time, they were a bit closer than the morning group, so I got some really good pictures of them. Of course, Jana had to rein me in a bit as I wanted to move closer than the recommended distance, partially to get better pictures, but also because I have an irrational lack of fear of elephants. Because they appear so gentle, I just never think they'd possibly attack. I know, it's stupid. Good thing Jana and Deliwe were there to control this crazy muzungu.

So, after our little visit with the last group of elephants, we were on our way, down the bumpy road and back to the entrance gate, where Benson greeted us with a big smile. It was then that I noticed the painted warning sign at the entrance: "Do not get out of your car. Elephants of this park are unpredictable. Wild animals have the right of way." Good thing our guides were with us, or I'd likely be a trampled mess of flesh and bones right now (or a 2-piece corpse chomped in half by a hippo, better yet). I'll leave you with that pleasant thought. Tiwonana mawa!